What do you want me to do for you?

Introduction to the Series Depending on how you count them, there are between two and three hundred questions asked by Jesus in the Gospels. Many of these are multiple occurrences, taking into account the four different writers, so the numbers are really less. Still, the number is impressive, as is the fact that Jesus seems only to answer directly three of them, by some accounts. As a rabbi, Jesus was expected to ask questions. Commonly, questions from students were met by questions from their rabbis. Answer a question with a question! It made for endless conversation, facet-turning, and fresh perspectives. The great issues of the day could hardly find singular answers. In fact, the orientation of Jewish education didn’t deal so much in answers as in persons who gave answers. Jews have always known that God’s ways are higher than ours, as are His thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). The biblical writers refused to settle for immediate solutions to thick questions, and so they persisted in asking them.